Excited to be playing the Blue Monster this morning as Jake made the cut in the last group. The hope is he has his driver figured out today. After breakfast and a warm up on the range, he’s ready!

As the round continues he finds the fairway multiple times and is set up for birdie often. He couldn’t get a birdie putt to fall to save his life. Ughhh it’s just heart breaking! He has one hole that he hits water and other than that, he had every opportunity to have the perfect round. He’s always a hole or two away from greatness.

And since no one really reads this blog, I think it’s safe to post this selfie of me with the beautiful flowers. This is for my awesome dad—he loves flower photos and it just had to be done!! You’re welcome dad, love you!☺️

Today was a great day on the course and he was so close to a really low round. He had it all dialed in but the ball just didn’t drop in the cup. Job well done, Jakers. Your time is coming!

It’s about a 30 minute drive to the beach, but it’s our last afternoon here so we are making the most of it! We made it to the beach by 4:30pm and hoping to get at least an hour in before a suspected rain storm comes in.

We made it back just in time for our last dinner in the ballroom and it was the one dinner that Jake was most excited about—bbq night and ice cream sundaes for dessert (sounds like something papa would love). He had already declared that if we didn’t make it back in time we were going to get bbq for dinner! The wrap up party for the kids was 8-10pm but Jake didn’t want to go. He’s really just here for the golf and not making a ton of friends😂

A few last photos of this gorgeous evening!

It’s been such a blessing being here this week with Jake and I’ve been taking it ALL in. He’s such a talented young player and has so many great physical and mental skills in this sport. He truly is so fun to watch and I hope he keeps improving, working hard, and enjoying the game.

Memorable quotes – “I pretty much spent the day on the beach today” – Jake referencing his 2nd round when he was in nearly every sand trap possible. “You have a very small mom” – the photographers comment as I walked up for our group photo on the tee box😂. “No wonder the breakfast is so gross here, they’re already putting it out!” – Jake referring to the hotel staff coming into the ballroom with breakfast items as we were still eating dinner🤣. Apparently they like to get a jump on breakfast set up! There are more funny quotes but I can’t think of them right now and we have an early flight out tomorrow so this is where I’ll close for now. Back to Kansas we go!!

Round 1 Golden Palm 80, Round 2 Blue Monster 85, Round 3 Blue Monster 80

That was the WORST 85 I’ve ever shot. EVER.

That’s a direct quote from Jake after his round on the Blue Monster today. I don’t usually like to start the post with the ending of the story but in this case, this quote can’t seem to leave my brain.

Today was an earlier start time (8am) but somehow we were already sweating through our clothes by hole 3. Miami is HOT! Even Jake commented on my sweaty shirt and that is for sure a first! He’s playing with Ben E (MS) and Andrew G (CA) again from Round 1. After 2 rounds, a cut is made and players are flighted.

The first 8 holes proved to be a little difficult. Jake is using a new driver and trying to figure it out. It takes time and practice and his hands are filled with blisters. Hitting the fairway today was a challenge and in fact he was in the sand so much it was almost odd when he wasn’t.

He proceeded to shoot even through the next 5 holes and had great momentum then had an unfortunate/unlucky bounce that landed him in the sand (of course). There’s sand and water everywhere and largely hard to avoid. He powered through the rest of the round and I could see his brain churning over this driver dilemma.

Somehow a round that was looking quite good at a point, ended up being a round he would love to forget. Repeatedly referencing only hitting 2-3 fairways today and the dreaded tee shots killing him.

I have to admit I’ve been on a strong cocktail of cold medicines and Drew’s prescription allergy medicine that I swiped from the cabinet before I left, so I’m not sharp on my details, but today I felt better, and I am proud of Jake for continuing to work hard.

He spent some time resting while I went to the beautiful pool here, we grabbed a $70 lunch in the hotel and and I nearly got stranded in a malfunctioning elevator😬then he was back in the range working.

We caught the finals of the long drive competition and we were pulling for Andrew Fowler, his golf acquaintance from Overland Park. We had previously run into him at lunch and he had a dreadful day on the course so we were hoping he could have some success on long drive.

He made the cut! He gets to play the Blue Monster tomorrow (in the last group but he’s in). Hoping to find a few more fairways…

It’s go time! Dressed and ready and sporting some very nice new golf shoes. Actually, Brian decided to get a new pair as well. He thought he deserved some this week with all the walking and his others are soaked. I guess I’m out of luck since I’m over quota on all of my shoe buying anyway.

Today he is playing on the Golden Palm course and after a quick shower it was quite sunny the remainder of the day.

Now this is a first…look at these cuties on their scooters following their grandson from MS☺️

Don’t let them fool you! Those two were wild on those things. They would run you down if you were in the way I think.

The first hole is always nerve wracking and you just want to get through it! He had a great par and already on hole 2 we were backed up as the group ahead of us was waiting on a ruling. But we got back on track and weather was never a factor today. Although, it did get quite warm towards the end.

They have these smart boxes stationed all over the course to store clubs in case of a weather emergency. It’s quite a logistics process they have in place.

A birdie on this one after another amazing chip to the green out of a steep sand trap.

There’s so much water and sand on this course and it probably would’ve been wise to play a practice round on this one. There were two holes that got him in trouble and he took triples on both. However, he also had 2 birdies and so many wonderful golf shots.

The final hole has a green completely surrounded by water and all 3 boys played the hole well. He barely missed his first putt and ended with an 80. He could’ve been quite low today had he not found the sand on a few holes. He had a great attitude and his composure is always a strong attribute for his game in my opinion.

It’s never felt so good to get into the A/C after that round! We rested for a bit while Brian worked and then headed out to South Beach for some much deserved food and beach time. A local recommended Finnegan’s and it didn’t disappoint! The first cheeseburger for Jake on this trip (shocking…I know!)

The water was so warm. Almost too warm!

It was a really fun afternoon/evening and we headed back to Doral to get cleaned up. We skipped the free dinner as we had eaten in Miami Beach but did pick up a couple cannolis and a salad for me before they shut it down at 8pm.

They had glow golf for the event tonight and Brian was the winner (although Jake will say otherwise!)

We went for ice cream at Sloan’s in a really nice area near our resort, City Place, with several cute shops and restaurants.

One final stop for more snacks and made it to the room by 10:45pm…curfew is 11. Not sure how that is enforced but we are ready to call it a night anyway. Early 8am tee time tomorrow!

I just had enough time to unpack my suitcase from Salt Lake with my girls, do my laundry, and pack it back up so I can get to Miami with Jake for the Optimist International Junior Golf Championship at Trump National Doral. He qualified for this tournament weeks ago by taking 2nd place in a local tourney. We decided to spend the money and take the trip because it’s just a great opportunity to play at a premier course with golfers coming from all over the globe. You just never know if the opportunity would come along again. Of course, he also qualified to go to Pinehurst again for the US Kids Teen championships this week and also a tournament in Wichita. So there we were making a decision between 3 tournaments occurring this week. What a blessing to be in that position and way to go Jake!

I have to admit I was really scrambling around to get myself packed and to a minute clinic before our flight because I’ve managed to start feeling bad. Thankfully just a nasty cold, but not ideal traveling conditions. We made it to the resort by midnight thanks to hopping on a different flight. Our original flight kept changing and it would’ve put us here at 3am.

I swear we just closed our eyes and the alarm was going off to get up to check in for the tournament, eat breakfast, hit a few balls, and up to the tee box for a practice round on the Blue Monster course.

The practice round was off and on rain and some sunshine and delays. This is Jake’s least favorite weather to play in!! We played with Sebastian from Bolivia and Brady from Indiana.

We debated about driving to the beach but it continued to rain so we took much needed naps and then Jake hit the range for a bit before dinner. He didn’t feel inclined to enter into the longest drive competition and he’s kicking himself, because he probably would’ve done well! One of competitors from the KC area is in the finals for it (Andrew Fowler).

We attended the welcome meeting and learned there are 575 junior athletes here from 23 countries. Wow!

One last order of business for the evening…a stop at Dicks Sporting Goods do get rain jackets and another umbrella because the weather is not looking good for the rest of the week. Despite a reminder set in all of our calendars, we still didn’t pack our rain gear!!

That’s all for now from Sunny (and by sunny, I mean rainy) Miami!! More updates to come.